Rail safety investigations & reports

Derailment of freight train 1MA6Q near Pura Pura Vic., 30 March 2008

Summary

At about 19321 on 30 March 2008,
freight train 1MA6Q, travelling from Melbourne to Adelaide,
derailed on the Mt Emu Creek bridge near Pura Pura, Victoria.
Twenty-one wagons derailed, coming to rest on the track past the
bridge abutment. As a result of the derailment, some containers
burst spilling their contents onto the rail corridor and the
adjacent public road.

The investigation determined that the derailment occurred as a
result of a failed rail due to fatigue cracking emanating from an
unused bolt-hole.